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The Specials (sometimes
called The Special AKA) are an English2 Toneska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England.
Their music combined a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with
punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed
political and social stance" than other ska groups. The group was
formed by songwriter/keyboardist Jerry Dammers, with Terry Hall
(vocals), Lynval Golding (guitar, vocals) and a rhythm section. The
band wore mod-style "1960s period
rude-boy outfits (porkpie hats, tonic and mohair suits, and
loafers)." In 1979, the song "Too Much Too Young", the lead track
on their The Special AKA
Live!EP, reached number one
in the UK. In 1981, the unemployment-themed single "Ghost Town"
single also hit number one in the UK
Singles Chart. Their music is featured in
film and televisionsoundtracks. After seven
consecutive UKTop 10singles between 1979 and 1981, the band broke
up. In 2008, it was announced that the band would reform and
embark on a 30th anniversary tour in 2009.

Career

After being formed in 1977 by Roger Mullin, Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter (also known as Sir Horace
Gentleman), the band was first called The Automatics, and then The
Coventry Automatics. Terry Hall and Roddy
Byers (also known as Roddy
Radiation) joined the band the following year, and the band
changed its name to The Special AKA The Coventry Automatics, and
then to The Special AKA. Joe Strummer
of The Clash had attended one of their
concerts, and invited The Special AKA to open for his band in their
On Parole UK Tour. This performance gave The Special AKA a
new level of national exposure, and they briefly shared The Clash's
management.

The Specials began at the same time as Rock Against Racism which first gathered
in 1978. According to Dammers, anti-racism was intrinsic to the
formation of The Specials, in that the band was formed with the
goal of integrating black and white people. Many years later
Dammers stated, "Music gets political when there are new ideas in
music, ...punk was innovative, so was ska, and that was why bands
such as The Specials and The Clash could be political."

Dammers then drastically revised the line-up of the band, adding
vocalists Stan Campbell and Rhoda Dakar, and began working again
under the group name The Special AKA. The resulting album from the
new line-up, In the Studio,
was not very commercially successful, although the song "Nelson Mandela" was a #9 UK hit.
The latter
contributed to making Mandela a cause célèbre in the United Kingdom, and became popular with anti-Apartheid
activists in South Africa. Dammers then dissolved the band
and pursued political activism.

Later developments

The group performing in the late
2000s

Since the breakup of the original line-up, various members of the
band performed in other bands and have reformed several times to
tour and record in Specials-related projects. However, there has
never been a complete reunion of the original line-up. In the
1980s, Hall, Staple and Golding founded the pop band Fun Boy
Three and enjoyed commercial success from 1981 to 1983 with
hits such as "Tunnel of Love", "Our Lips Are Sealed" and "The
Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)". From 1984 until 1987, Hall
fronted The Colourfield, with some
commercial success. After they disbanded, Hall pursued a solo
career, working mostly in the New
Wave genre. He co-wrote a number of early Lightning Seeds releases. He also performed
some vocals for a Dub Pistols'
album.

In the early 1990s, members of The
Beat teamed up with members of The Specials to form Special Beat. The band toured and released some
live albums. In 1996, with ska enjoying a
resurgence in mainstream popularity on North American radio and MTV, several members of The Specials reunited to record
Today's Specials, a studio album mostly of reggae and ska
covers. This was followed in 1998 with an album of originals,
Guilty 'Til Proved Innocent, featuring guest vocals by
Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen of Rancid. The band toured heavily in support of
both releases. These albums were followed by Skinhead Girl
in 2000 and Conquering Ruler in 2001. Notably absent from
these records and tours were Hall and Dammers. In 1992, ex-Specials
bassist Panter quit the music
industry to train as a primary school teacher at the University of
Central England in Birmingham. He later resumed his musical
career.

In 2007, Hall teamed up with Golding for the first time in 24
years, to play Specials songs at two music festivals. At Glastonbury
Festival they appeared on the Pyramid Stage with Lily Allen to perform "Gangsters". In May
2009 Golding claimed that Allen's reuniting him with Hall played a
"massive part" in the groups later reformation. Later the same day
they played on The Park Stage, with Damon
Albarn of Blur on piano and with beatboxerShlomo providing rhythm, to perform "A Message To You, Rudy".
At
GuilFest, Golding
joined the Dub Pistols to again perform "Gangsters". In
2007, Golding regularly performed concerts and recorded with Pama
International, a collective of musicians, who were members of
Special Beat.

Reunion

On 30 March 2008, Hall stated that The Specials would be reforming
for tour dates in Autumn 2008, and possibly for some recording.
This was officially confirmed on 7 April 2008. On 6 September 2008,
six members of the band performed on the Main Stage at the Bestival
as the 'Surprise Act'. By December 2008, the band had announced
2009 tour dates to celebrate their 30th anniversary. It was
announced that founder member Jerry Dammers is not set to join the
band on the tour. Hall was quoted as saying "The door remains open
to him". However Dammers described the new reunion as a "takeover"
and claimed he has been forced out of the band. On 10 April 2009,
the reactivated band guested on the BBC
Two's Later... with
Jools Holland. The following month, Lynval Golding and
John Bradbury expressed their intentions to release further
original Specials material at a later date. On 8 June 2009, it was
announced that The Specials would embark on a 'second leg' of their
30th Anniversary Tour - taking in the locations and venues that
they missed earlier in the year. In July and August 2009, The
Specials toured Australia and Japan.